Osseo Chief Says Hiring Part-Time Officers More Difficult, Suggests County Attorney To Blame
The city of Osseo plans to hire two new police officers next year under a 2025 preliminary budget approved by the city council this week.
The decision comes as Osseo Police Chief Shane Mikkelson says the profession continues to deal with serious retention issues.
“The reason why these people are leaving is they don’t want to be cops anymore. And we saw a huge rush after George Floyd. And since then we started to see with PTSD and some of these other issues we’re having mental health-wise that officers are leaving,” said Mikkelson, who also serves as interim city administrator.
Mikkelson said one of the main reasons officers left the city in previous years is because they were on duty alone and didn’t have backup. He also says it’s next to impossible to find part-time officers like the city used to rely on, suggesting the county attorney is one reason.
“The problem with part-time is it’s non-union, okay, and what does the county attorney think of police officers right now? Let’s just lay that one right out there. Who wants to come and work in Hennepin County without a union behind them, and have to, maybe, use their gun,” said Mikkelson.
The city’s 2025 budget calls for one new officer in April and another in July. The chief’s goal is to have two officers on patrol per every shift. The department currently has nine officers.
Osseo Police and interim City Administrator Shane Mikkelson speaks to the city council this week during a budget work session.
Osseo Sets Maximum Property Tax Levy
The new police hires and the hire of a new fire chief is largely driving a significant increase in the preliminary property tax levy, which is proposed to go up 23 percent.
For a $300,000 home, city taxes would go up $378.65, a 20 percent increase over 2024.
Osseo City Council members stress that’s the high water mark and expect that number to go down. City councils typically set the preliminary levy higher knowing they can’t go above that figure, but have the ability to decrease it.
“This is the worst-case scenario,” said Osseo City Council Member Mark Cook on the preliminary budget. “We have no intentions of moving forward with a budget that’s going to end up being this big. We don’t want this.”
You can view the full budget discussion here.
Also See: Osseo Approves Dual Police Chief-City Administrator Role
